Homes 'smashed' by Zimbabwe paramilitary police

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Armed paramilitary police swept through a Harare township,
pulling down over 100 prefabricated wooden cabins - including one
in which screaming children had taken refuge - witnesses and
opposition activists said on Tuesday.

Monday's raid took place despite promises that police are
winding down Operation Murambatsvina, or Drive Out Trash, a
so-called urban renewal drive that has destroyed the homes and
livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans.

Police could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

It was the latest in a series of raids against Hatcliffe
township, where an estimated 20,000 people have already been forced
from their homes since police started torching and bulldozing
shantytowns, markets and other structures deemed illegal on May
19.

A United Nations envoy is in Zimbabwe to assess the humanitarian
impact of the campaign, which aid workers and opposition leaders
estimate has displaced up to 1.5 million people at the height of
the southern African winter. Police put the figure at around
120,000.

Since UN envoy Anna Tibaijuka's visit was announced, government
officials have repeatedly stated that the demolished homes will be
replaced with a 3 trillion Zimbabwe dollars ($435 million)
reconstruction effort.

"First they came after us sellers at the market area, where the
council gave us the green light to sell," said Brighton Chiwolo, a
cigarette seller who lost his job as a supermarket checkout clerk
last year.

"Then they went from street to street ordering people to
demolish the cottages that were there."

"Some five or six kids that were there ran and locked themselves
in a cottage, and then the police went and demolished it with iron
bars while the kids - aged 9, 10, 11 - started screaming," he
said.

The children escaped unharmed, but another resident was injured
when a sheet of roofing fell on his foot, Chiwolo said.

Officials have said previously they are targeting illegal
structures, but Hatcliffe residents said they are being forced from
land and homes given to them by the government itself ahead of
elections in recent years.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday told journalists
in South Africa that the demolitions appeared aimed at breaking up
opposition strongholds among the urban poor and diverting attention
from the government's economic failings.

The destruction comes at a time of economic crisis in Zimbabwe,
where inflation has topped 144 per cent, unemployment is around 70
per cent, and an estimated 4 million are in urgent need of
food.